酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Three Men in a Boat-Part14_Jerome K.Jerome(1859-1927)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页


lantern, and squatted down to supper.

We wanted that supper.



For five-and-thirty minutes not a sound was heard throughout the length

and breadth of that boat, save the clank of cutlery and crockery, and the



steady grinding of four sets of molars. At the end of five-and-thirty

minutes, Harris said, "Ah!" and took his left leg out from under him and



put his right one there instead.

Five minutes afterwards, George said, "Ah!" too, and threw his plate out



on the bank; and, three minutes later than that, Montmorency gave the

first sign of contentment he had exhibited since we had started, and



rolled over on his side, and spread his legs out; and then I said, "Ah!"

and bent my head back, and bumped it against one of the hoops, but I did



not mind it. I did not even swear.

How good one feels when one is full - how satisfied with ourselves and



with the world! People who have tried it, tell me that a clear

conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does



the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained.

One feels so forgiving and generous after a substantial and well-digested



meal - so noble-minded, so kindly-hearted.

It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive



organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so.

It dictates to us our emotions, our passions. After eggs and bacon, it



says, "Work!" After beefsteak and porter, it says, "Sleep!" After a cup

of tea (two spoonsful for each cup, and don't let it stand more than



three minutes), it says to the brain, "Now, rise, and show your strength.

Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature and



into life; spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-

like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes



of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!"

After hot muffins, it says, "Be dull and soulless, like a beast of the



field - a brainless animal, with listless eye, unlit by any ray of fancy,

or of hope, or fear, or love, or life." And after brandy, taken in



sufficient quantity, it says, "Now, come, fool, grin and tumble, that

your fellow-men may laugh - drivel in folly, and splutter in senseless



sounds, and show what a helpless ninny is poor man whose wit and will are

drowned, like kittens, side by side, in half an inch of alcohol."



We are but the veriest, sorriest slaves of our stomach. Reach not after

morality and righteousness, my friends; watch vigilantly your stomach,



and diet it with care and judgment. Then virtue and contentment will

come and reign within your heart, unsought by any effort of your own; and



you will be a good citizen, a loving husband, and a tender father - a

noble, pious man.



Before our supper, Harris and George and I were quarrelsome and snappy

and ill-tempered; after our supper, we sat and beamed on one another, and



we beamed upon the dog, too. We loved each other, we loved everybody.

Harris, in moving about, trod on George's corn. Had this happened before



supper, George would have expressed wishes and desires concerning

Harris's fate in this world and the next that would have made a



thoughtful man shudder.

As it was, he said: "Steady, old man; `ware wheat."



And Harris, instead of merely observing, in his most unpleasant tones,

that a fellow could hardly help treading on some bit of George's foot, if



he had to move about at all within ten yards of where George was sitting,

suggesting that George never ought to come into an ordinary sized boat



with feet that length, and advising him to hang them over the side, as he

would have done before supper, now said: "Oh, I'm so sorry, old chap; I



hope I haven't hurt you."

And George said: "Not at all;" that it was his fault; and Harris said no,



it was his.

It was quite pretty to hear them.



We lit our pipes, and sat, looking out on the quiet night, and talked.

George said why could not we be always like this - away from the world,



with its sin and temptation, leading sober, peaceful lives, and doing

good. I said it was the sort of thing I had often longed for myself; and



we discussed the possibility of our going away, we four, to some handy,

well-fitted desert island, and living there in the woods.



Harris said that the danger about desert islands, as far as he had heard,

was that they were so damp: but George said no, not if properly drained.



And then we got on to drains, and that put George in mind of a very funny

thing that happened to his father once. He said his father was



travelling with another fellow through Wales, and, one night, they

stopped at a little inn, where there were some other fellows, and they



joined the other fellows, and spent the evening with them.

They had a very jolly evening, and sat up late, and, by the time they



came to go to bed, they (this was when George's father was a very young

man) were slightly jolly, too. They (George's father and George's



father's friend) were to sleep in the same room, but in different beds.




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号